My Green Hobby

What are Aquaponics Systems?

What Is Aquaponics Systems Made Up Of?

Plants that are being grown in an aquaponics system. This is just one of many possible methods used to deliver moisture and nutrients to the plants being cultivated.

What are aquaponics systems?

Aquaponics refers to systems that combine standard aquaculture i.e. raising aquatic creature like fish or crayfish in tanks combined with a hydroponics system.

Hydroponics is cultivating plants in water in an environment that is considered to be symbiotic.

Normally in an aquaculture system there are build ups from the fish bio waste.

Because fish or other creatures are being raised in a confined or limited environment this waste will accumulate in the water, raising the toxicity.

With aquaponics systems, water from the aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are filtered out and broken down by bacteria into nitrates and nitrites.

Here’s a nice school of Tilapia that are a part of the Aquaponics cycle. They provide the nitrates and nitrites to the plants with their waste. So you get plants and fish to harvest.

Vegetable plants use the nitrates and nitrites as nutrients thereby removing them, and the water is then recirculated back to the fish or other aquatic creatures minus the toxins.

The plants that can be grown in an aquaponics systems still require much of the same techniques and discipline found in either hydroponic and aquaculture farming methods, making the complexity, types and sizes of plants vary as much as any system used to grow food.

How Does Aquaponics Work?

How does it work even with different types of plants? And how does the whole system works together? What do you have to do to keep it going and working well?

It is such a simple combination of two great systems that works beautifully! Being prepared, no matter what motivates you, is always a good idea.

Why You Should Be Doing Aquaponics

If you have observed history you know that stuff happens to all – rain falls on the just and unjust alike, so in a nutshell, something will happen at some point and there will be no way to avoid it.

Knowing that you will be able to provide your family with food is a good feeling. Self reliance and sustainable is a great place to be no matter where society is heading.

Being prepared, not scared, is the best way to handle anything that comes our way.

Why do you buy fire insurance? Not because you think your house is going to burn down, but to be prepared if it ever does.

This is no different, really.

There are enough aquaponic stores online these days (Amazon) that you should have no trouble buying any supply you’d like, to make your own system.

Or if you are a do-it-yourselfer you probably have figured out how to do most of it with what you have or what you can find.

Finally, this is a great educational project and is really a lot of fun to do!